1 The Spot

In the summer of 1998 a new place opened its doors for the first time in downtown East Wirroh. It was a large black building lined with lights that coruscated to the melody of music. It had large glass doors and a sign that read,

It smelled of melted plastic and bar food, yet there was just something about it that beckoned an audience. Though East Wirroh was a rather small town with half of its population being married, middle class working adults and elderly couples who barely left the house, the building would soon drag the younger crowd to the surface.

The new place was called

And just like the other curious teens in town, Winnie and her best friend Christopher, were waiting eagerly at the front doors on opening night.

"I wonder why you have to be single to get in, that's rather weird is it not?" Chris posed, rocking on his toes to try and get a better view of the doors that sat across from the large crowd they were amongst.

"Yeah, but I'm not complaining. Being around too many happy couples makes me queasy."

"The poor love-hater finds her happy place."

"This coming from the boy who has a new chick with him every five seconds so shut up."

Chris shot her a look before breaking out into a grin. Winnie's fingers twiddled with her coat strings impatiently as the crowd slowly shrunk. Soon, they would be at the front of the line and met with a tall and rather handsome boy. He couldn't have been a few years older than they were, and if he was he looked shockingly young for his age.

"Welcome! Welcome! I'm afraid I have to ask you both a few questions before you go in, it's mandatory."

He paused and looked the two of them down with careful eyes. Winnie felt particularly targeted after he looked at her and mumbled,

She glowered at him as he scribbled in his bright red notepad and turned to the two of them once again. He flashed a smile large and bright enough to be in dentist commercials.

"Wonderful. Now, are both of you looking?"

"Looking for…?" Chris added confusedly.

"Oh, yes, sorry. Looking for someone, as in

He clarified, shaking his head with a grin.

"Meh, if they don't stick around for too long maybe?" Chris told him boyishly, Winnie looked at him and rolled her eyes almost disgustedly. The boy laughed amusedly before turning to Winnie who had been avoiding the question. Who could blame her, the conversation had headed in a direction that she rarely enjoyed.

"No. I'm looking to go dancing with my friend." She explained rather bitterly, he frowned at her before once again, jotting down messy scribbles in his notepad.

"Enjoy yourselves."

He held the glass door open and a gust of various smells collided with the two in a wave of warm air. A rush of excitement filled them as party lights and music welcomed them inside. The inside was enormous, there were what seemed like hundreds of people dancing in the main section of the building, all standing on a floor that was bright red and glowing like a lantern. The music was loud and the lights felt intoxicating almost.

"Jesus." Chris muttered as he surveyed their new surroundings. Winnie smiled and quickly took her friend by the arm, dragging him towards the dance floor where the music was louder, the lights were brighter and the amount of people was bigger. The two began to jump along to the music and soon were laughing as other strangers around them joined in. Winnie closed her eyes and began to jump in circles, a lazy grin on her face as the music filled every inch of her body. The music faded into something slower, softer, melodical and sickening. It was only sickening for one girl however, as she slowly came to a stop and opened her eyes to find herself alone amongst swaying couples. She hastily searched for Chris and upon seeing the back of his shirt she approached him and raised a hand to turn him around.

A skinny blond girl had her head on his chest and her arms were wrapped around his neck. Winnie flushed red and quickly backed away from the two. She fled the dance floor until finding an empty barstool practically calling her name. She took a seat and calmed her racing heart and the furious feelings surging through her. Sometimes, she hated Chris, and no it was not because he was dancing with someone that wasn't her, it was because he was desirable enough

dance with someone else. Sometimes she thought that maybe he was the reason she hated love so much, because he made it seem so easy and with Chris it was a constant reminder that she was undesirable.

"Here, lovers-cocktail, virgin of course." A silky voice broke through her thoughts as a tall pink drink slid onto the surface next to her. She stared down at the drink then turned to see who exactly had spoken to her. She nearly gasped at the boy she was faced with. He was tall, with freckled skin and blazing green eyes and the most shocking factor, his violent red hair. It wasn't '

red, it was the sort of red that looked as though it was glowing, almost like the dance floor she had been on earlier. His lips were bright pink and pouty almost like a child and his features were so sharp that he almost looked like a mystical being.

"Lonely at the barstool, been there done that, darling." He continued, as he picked and replaced bottles from a large wall of beverages and syrups. He moved with such grace and naturally glowed and to Winnie he looked almost fictitious.

"What? I'm not…"

"Hush hush, no need to excuse yourself, drink up before that goes warm." He interrupted, pointing at the untouched pink drink sitting beside her. She looked at him calculatingly before taking a sip from the fizzy drink. It felt like alcohol slipping down her throat, it left a warm sensation lingering that made her feel comfortable and lovely.

"I'm Eros, I own this place." He explained as she finished the last of her drink, the taste and feeling it gave her was addicting and she hoped that her hastiness hinted for him to make another.

"Eros?"

"I know, I know. I was just a baby when they gave me that name, so I didn't get much of a say." He joked as he fixed her another pink drink. She smiled gently and let out a small snicker. The music faded and soon another up beat song began to play. Eros slid another drink towards her and wiped his hands along the apron clinging to his waist.

"I think your friend is waiting for you." He told her, pointing to Chris who was beckoning her over to the dance floor, the blonde girl still close behind him.

"Oh, yeah. Thank you, I'm Winnie by the way." She called back as she made her way down to Chris.

Chris looked at her in a certain way once she

get to him. She frowned at him mockingly before introducing herself to the pretty blonde girl he had been dancing with moments before. Her name was Beth and she seemed overly intimidated by Winnie.

"Don't look at me like that. It was just the owner of the place, his name is Eros, he's pretty cool actually." Winnie explained as she began to dance to the music once again. Chris seemed unconvinced, but nonetheless began to dance alongside Winnie.

Moments later the music stopped and the lights disappeared. There were a few audible gasps and curious murmurs from the crowd. Then, abruptly, the lights faded until they were a romantic red shade cascading onto the stage and the dance floor. Music began to play and a large pink spotlight shot out onto the stage. A man dressed in a fiery red suit stood with a prideful smile and his hands in the air, one of them holding a large cane with a sparkly red cane on the top, Winnie smiled widely. It was Eros. The crowd cheered in excitement as he lowered his arms and waited for the music and the crowd to die down. In this light, Eros reminded Winnie of David Bowie.

"Welcome to The Spot! Now, I have a special game in store for the lovely attendees of the night, care to play?" He cried out dramatically, waving his arms once again, the crowd erupted. Winnie looked at Chris who was watching in half amusement half bewilderment.

"Casimos." He shouted, the lights disappeared once again but this time, Winnie could make out everyone's silhouette. She whirled around in circles in surprise and slight fear, and after noticing the soft green glow of her skin, yelped.

"Find your colour, if you have no colour, I'm afraid this is not the night for you and your best decision should be to exit." Eros' voice pierced through the panicked yelps and murmurs of the audience. Winnie was mortified,

She felt sick and nervous and the warmth of her previous drinks were gone. She saw no

she saw faceless silhouettes that reminded her of her childhood nightmares. She slowly weaved through the sea of shadows finding absolutely no colour, was she supposed to find the same colour she was? Her mind was aching with worries and thoughts until finally in the distance, she saw a soft green glow. She approached the glowing stranger and softly tapped their shoulder. The deep voice yelped and Winnie pulled away quickly. Though the stranger was glowing, they still looked as though they were a shadow with no features or detail.

"Sorry!" She responded, now standing at a distance from the stranger. She wanted to scream or maybe even laugh at the sound of her voice, it sounded as though she were a child or a chipmunk.

"What the hell is going on?" The stranger cried out fearfully and in all honesty, Winnie felt the exact same way.

"Now, you have five minutes to speak to your partner before the lights go up, do not give your name, do not give any hints, enjoy your time together." Eros' voice instructed through the dark.

Winnie looked at the faceless stranger before her and felt a surge of anger and fear run through her, she came here to dance and have fun with

and now she was trapped in some sort of voodoo magic with someone who looked like someone from a slasher film. She wanted to be at home, to sound normal and to see normally once again.

"Are you scared?" The deep voice questioned.

"Weird first question, uh, yeah I guess I am." Winnie replied wearily, her body felt overheated and her nerves trembled as she hoped and prayed for the five minute mark to arrive.

"I was excited about tonight, real excited, now I feel like going home and never coming back." The voice mumbled, Winnie could hear the trembling in their voice.

Winnie felt oddly safer knowing that the stranger was having just as much of a bad time as she was, she wondered if they felt the same thrill secretly pulsating in their chest.

"Me too, I was hoping to spend the night with my friend but even that didn't work, two seconds in and he was dancing with someone else." She rambled nervously, regretting it only moments later.

"Oh, I'm guessing you like this friend then? I get it, I'm in that same place too." The voice grew softer as they said this, Winnie could see them shuffle uncomfortably.

"What, no I just…" She began, then the realization sunk in that this conversation was clearly quite anonymous, and instead of fighting it she gave in.

"How long have you been friends with him?" The voice questioned and reluctantly, Winnie told them.

"Ten years almost."

"That's so cool, me and my friend have been friends for like 9 years I think, that's basically the same thing. Wait, ooh! I have an idea!" The voice responded excitedly, Winnie laughed at the scattered thought process. In all honesty, the stranger seemed inviting and if she did know who it was she was sure they'd be fast friends.

"Shoot."

"Here take this, keep it with you so you can have like a little trinket of me, since you know we can't know each other."

Winnie held out her hand and allowed a small object to be placed inside the palm of her hand and quickly she placed it in the pocket of her jeans.

"I'm sorry I don't have anything for you." She told them guiltily.

"That's okay I have a good memory."

Winnie laughed gently before slowly beginning to feel sick, her vision blurred and everything seemed to morph into one ball of hazy shadows. She closed her eyes and placed a hand upon her stomach.

The lights came back on and the music returned. Winnie could see once again and she was surprised to find that no one had moved from their spots on the dance floor, except for the large chunk of the audience that had left moments before.

"Wonderful, wonderful! To those who remain, you have just spoken to your soulmate. It is not yet time to reveal your future destinies, but I assure you, time will bring you together once again so do not force it." Eros announced to a very silent and very skeptical audience. Winnie felt her heart flutter, she never believed in those sorts of things yet here she was standing in the same room as her so-called soulmate, she wasn't sure whether to laugh or to puke. What she did know was that she had to speak to Chris and get the hell out of there. She spun in circles trying to find out where he had gone, if everyone else was in their same spots, Chris should have been right next to her.

Then it hit her.

Chris had been kicked out.

She quickly fled the dancefloor that had now returned to its usual state rather than an audience, and hastily searched for Chris. When she did find him, he was outside the doors leaning against the concrete walls with a sickly pale shade coating his face.

"Why did you leave? Were you kicked out?" She worriedly pulled him into a hug and nervously held a hand to his cold pale cheeks, he looked as though he had seen a ghost.

"No, I just had to get some fresh air, that whole thing freaked me out. It was like a fever dream, Win." She pulled away from him and nodded softly, of all people she was sure Chris would think all the soulmate stuff was a bunch of hocus-pocus but he looked genuinely shook up about it all.

"Lets walk back to mine and we can watch a movie or something." She offered, taking his arm into hers and leading him down the sidewalk far away from The Spot.

When the two arrived at Winnie's house, Chris went straight for the computer. While Winnie fixed the two of them a bowl of popcorn, Chris searched for anything about the owner of The Spot.

"Woah, Winnie come here!" He cried out to her, pointing to a small paragraph on the screen. Winnie read it with wide eyes.

Winnie shook her head in disbelief, next to the paragraph was a photo that resembled strikingly of Eros from The Spot.

"No way is this real, were we drugged or something?" Chris shot up from his chair and began to mutter to himself in a panic. Winnie continued to stare at the screen dumbfoundedly until the sound of the popcorn being finished shook her out of her thoughts. She left Chris in his state of panic and returned to the kitchen to finish with the popcorn. Then she remembered the small object she had been given, her heart fluttered and quickly she dug in her jean pocket to retrieve it. She opened her palm to reveal a small blue button, one that had an almost silvery undertone. She stared down at it with a strange feeling coiling in her stomach.

"Where did you get that?" Chris' sharp voice startled her, she looked up to find a wildly fearful look in his eyes, or maybe it was shock she couldn't tell.

"What, this? Why?" She tightened a fist around the button and turned to face her appalled friend. He stayed silent for a few moments before quietly asking her.

"Did your soulmate give you that?"

She stared at him curiously before opening her hand and gazing down at the sparkling button once again.

"Yeah, how did you know that?"

"Cause I'm the one who gave it to you."